- 1. EDX3270LiteraciesEducation
2. Changes in literacy practices, created by rapidly evolving
technologies, have had many implications for the teaching and
learning of literacy.This synthesis will reflect on the ten
annotated articles to highlight how literacy teaching and learning
has changed, and how teachers can best assist students in their
learning.Traditionally, literacy was taught via approaches, such as
drilled in skills, or in immersion processes, drowning students in
experiences of print and visuals prior to developing semantics,
syntax, or phonological skills (Henderson, R. slide 3). These
pedagogies were at a time when texts were explicitly from a two
dimensional print- based world of books and images (NSW Department
of Education and Training, p. 3.). 3. Nowadays, the very concept of
text encompasses print and digital modes through what Cope and
Kalantzis (2009) define as Learning by Design. These designs set
out how students make meaning in all modes of texts via the
linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, spatial and multimodal aspects
(New London Group, p.78).Having the ability to comprehend or
interpret the design modes in literacy ensures students become
multiliterate it todays technological society. This requires not
only a cognitive practice but also having an understanding, or an
awareness, of the social concepts (Anstey and Bull, p.), aiming to
empower students through literacy to read the word and the world,
encouraging them to firstly indentify texts as social constructions
and then to analyse their meanings (Freire & Macedo, 1987). 4.
It is little wonder that students are more adept at
newertechnologies then teachers, as these technologies haveembedded
themselves into the culture of the students,taking on complex roles
and new mindsets in regards tocommunication (Asselin and Moayeri,
p.1).Blogs, Skype and texting are just a snippet of the newforms of
communications, transforming the very act ofliteracy learning, and
progressing at such a rate thatpedagogical practices are falling
behind (Marsh, p.13). 5. There is no one right way to teach
literacy skills, but there are a number of pedagogical approaches
that benefit the learning processes; didactive teachings, discovery
based and exploratory approaches, are just a few (National
Curriculum Board, p.16). These styles provide grounded experiences
that are meaningful to students and relatable to their personal
experiences both in and out of school. Structured dialogue is
another approach teachers can take on board when teaching as it
builds on robust learning environments and improves learning
outcomes (Abbey, 2010). Dialogue, along with pedagogies and
technologies, develop the cognitive mind as well as having social
functions that enhance students vocabulary. 6. There are also a
number of frameworks that assist both with the teaching, and
learning of literacy and the Four Resource Model is one framework
that lends itself into all subject areas (Santoro, p.52,
Stewart-Dore, p.6) seeing literacy taught across all domains of the
curriculum, not just in English.Faced with a digital driven and
globalised world, teachers must adopt a pedagogy of multiliteracies
and embed the new technologies into the learning frame in order to
develop inclusivity, cultural knowledge and connectedness to the
real world (Mills, p.7). 7. Abbey is an Australian consultant and
researcher with much experience in the government and community
sectors. His article explores the benefits of structured dialogue
and examines a four dimensional model and a stage-by-stage process
for teachers to implement into the learning environment. Through
his research, he suggests that new pedagogies and technologies need
to align in order to bring optimal performance in the classrooms.
Abbey argues that pedagogy and technology need to merge in order to
transform classroom conversations into a structured dialogue,
developing cognitive as well as social functions. How students are
read to is just as important as how often they are read to as this
will enhance their vocabulary. 8. Anstey and Bulls article explores
the term multiliteracies and the skills required by students to be
cognitively and socially literate within the technology used. The
implication for pedagogy begins at examining what constitutes text
in an age of multimedia. Previously education worked within paper
based text, hence a linguistic semiotic system dominated literacy
pedagogy, however as texts are increasingly multimodal the term
literate persons requires knowledge of all five semiotic systems as
well as an understanding of how they work together. This means that
teachers need to help students explore the changing nature of texts
as they develop understandings about them. 9. Asselin and Moayeris
article offers examples of classroom practices drawing on social
elements of social webbing (Web 2.0) which they believe are
necessary in extending students ideas of new literacies. Expanding
literacies for learning with Web 2.0 include criticality,
metacognition, reflection and skills, all needed for creating and
publishing, yet schools still remain to use Web 1.0 for
games/activities and resources. The authors suggest social
bookmarking sites as examples of collaborative cataloguing and
indexing tools due to their collaborative nature of ranking
information based on the number of people who have bookmarked them.
The use of these technologies provides students with a
collaborative environment with them being active participants in
the development of new social literacy practices. 10. Cope and
Kalantzis refer to The New London Groupstheory of multiliteracies
pedagogy. They believe thatdue to a changing world and changing
environment ,pedagogy needs to change also. Instead of
thetraditional basics of reading, they call for atransformative
pedagogy, allowing the learner toactively analyse and apply meaning
making in fourmajor dimensions of teaching. This article
suggeststhat empirical activities will aid in the development
ofstrategies for diversity among students enablingequity within the
classroom and enabling students tobe active participants in their
learning providingthem with the framework to be literate
participants insociety. 11. Marshs analysis suggests that schools
take into account the way in which students are engaged in
innovative literacy practices in order to adopt productive
pedagogies. Because of the range of learning opportunities afforded
by digital technologies, new pedagogical approaches are required in
schools if the content is to be engaging and appropriate, and if
students are to become competent and effective analysers and
producers within a range of multimodal texts. Marsh draws on
Bernsteins (2000) Pedagogic Recontextualizing Field in relation to
literacy learning and education to critique two different
pedagogies (The National Literacy Strategy and Productive
Pedagogies). Schools need to revisit how they teach literacy, and
Information and Communication Technologies, and attempt to meld the
two in order to achieve a more productive pedagogy. 12. Mills
research paper looks at the findings of research regarding the
interactions between pedagogy and access to multiliteracies among
culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Conducted in an
upper primary classroom of a low socio-economic area, Ms Mills
conducted her research using the multiliteracies pedagogy and
critical ethnographic methodology. Unfortunately the observations
made by Ms Mills showed the teachers relapse to existing pedagogies
and traditional text thus prohibiting access to culturally diverse
textual practices and multimodality. This article highlights the
shortcomings of theories into classrooms as well as the importance
for teachers to constantly re-evaluate their pedagogical beliefs
and practices. 13. The New South Wales Government delves into
howdigital technologies effect learning environments viateacher
pedagogy, the nature of the learner, andreading and writing. They
acknowledge that althoughthese are still central to being literate,
globalisationhas created new literacy needs, which should
equipstudents to become critical creators and consumersof the
information they encounter. They draw on arange of frameworks they
believe are influential indetermining curriculum content, yet
applying theseframeworks alone do not ensure success in
literacylearning amongst students. Pedagogical beliefs andknowledge
in technology are also important ensuringteachers have
understandings of what technologyand media do .Educators need to
adjust their literacypractices in order to stay at least on par
with thechanges occurring in literacies. 14. Santoros perspective
in this article is that literacy learning is a complex set of
practices operating within a variety of texts and within certain
sets of social situations. He contrasts this to teachers who
believe that once students have learnt to read and write, they are
able to do so in all contexts. Santoro quells these beliefs by
pointing out that there are many distinctive school and social
literacies characterised by written, oral, aural, visual, digital
and multimodal texts. Santoro advocates the use of the
four-resource model as a valuable tool for middle years teachers
and student teachers. 15. Students need to be strategic learners,
acquiring a multitude of skills and strategies enabling them to
gain, construct and communicate new knowledges whilst building
higher order thinking skills and experiences, according to
Stewart-Dore. He examines the popular reading frameworks and
touches on their shortcomings (linear, systematic progression,
lacking in critical reflections regarding contents and processes).
In turn, Stewart-Dore proposes an alternative framework through the
Practicing Multiliteracies Learning Model comprising of four
phases: accessing knowledge, interrogating meanings, selecting and
organising information and representing knowledge. This article
suggests that teachers require some guidelines ensuring their
teaching strategies are appropriate to literacy education. 16. The
New London Group argues that the cultural andlinguistic diversity
occurring in society calls forextensive views on literacy rather
than the traditionalbased language approaches. This article,
written byten academics, is concerned about the changesoccurring in
literacy due to globalisation, technologyand the social and
cultural diversity. It was throughthem that the term
multiliteracies was coined,acknowledging the many diverse ways that
literacy isused. This new approach to literacy pedagogycombats the
limitations of traditional pedagogies,taking on a transformative
approach by introducingthe what and how of literacy pedagogy.
Thisarticle has been very influential regarding literacywithin the
educational system.
